Gone
by SpidERSpins
Summary: Elysia thinks about her Papa being Gone and how much she misses him. Oneshot. Written for Father's Day.


Author Note: Once again, I am writing a fanfic when I should be working on the ton of homework I got at summer school, especially now that I have a big project to do for it too. Especially when I am probably going to fail because for the second half of it I'll have to participate seven times in a huge debate. And I've already cried because the teacher asked me to make a speech until he decided it would be best not to make me do it. Yeah I know I suck.

Anyways, I wanted to write this because I found out that Father's Day was soon, and I wanted to do something for the best dad in the world. Who is Hughes, and definitely not my dad. Actually… I quite hate my dad. You know how Edward feels about his father? Well I feel about the same with my dad. Only my dad doesn't even have a slightly likable personality like Edward's dad does. Also, this'll probably be like the only fanfic I write that doesn't have Riza as one of the main characters. Or at least have some sort of hint of Royai.

I did my best with it, and I am sorry if the capitalization annoys you. This is written from Elysia's well not point of view, but more her perspective… I don't know… Anyways, kids tend to say some words like they are capitalized, so some of the words that mean a lot to Elysia are capitalized, like Papa and Gone. I know a few things might be a little repetitive, but kids are rather repetitive… It takes place right about where the manga is now, though it doesn't really matter all that much. Well… Er… Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Unless my mom is crazy (and nice) enough to buy Fullmetal Alchemist for me for my birthday that is on the 17th, I own absolutely nothing related to FMA.

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Elysia Hughes will never ever forget the night that she woke up to the sound of her mother's loud, strangled cry. It was the night that she was first told that Papa was Gone. Back then she hadn't really understood what that meant. Actually, she still didn't quite understand what her mother meant by her father being Gone. All she knew was that Papa being Gone meant he was no longer busy for work and was now buried beneath the ground.

Elysia hadn't seen her mother cry ever until the night Papa went Gone. Now Mama cried quite a lot. When she had first woken up that night, Elysia knew it was very late, because it was Very Dark. Papa was supposed to get home at Very Dark tonight, but Elysia was rarely up at Very Dark, though sometimes she'd pretend to be asleep so that she could say 'Good night' to Papa when he got home at Very Dark. Knowing it was Very Dark, Elysia got up, eager to see Papa. But she never got to see Papa ever again. He was Gone. Forever.

When Elysia got to the living room, she found her Mama crying hysterically and an uncomfortable looking man. The man seemed to be attempting to be comforting, in an awkward sort of way, patting her Mama on the arm. He was a soldier; Elysia recognized his military uniform. The young girl hadn't thought much of the soldier in her living room at the time though. Papa had lots of friends and lots were in the military, because Papa was in the military, too.

"I am sorry, Mrs. Hughes." The soldier was saying, though he didn't look all that sorry; just a little uncomfortable to see her Mama's tears. Elysia had watched the spectacle for a moment before speaking up.

"Where is Papa?" Her mother had jumped at her words, and turned quickly to see her daughter watching from the doorway. Then her mother burst into heavier sobs, and buried her face in her hands.

"Ely-" her mother had said between sobs "-sia."

The more her Mama cried, the more the soldier looked uncomfortable. Elysia turned away from the living room and wandered to her parent's bedroom. Maybe Papa was already home and in bed.

Her mother had always told her that she was a Daddy's Girl. Elysia had been fairly proud when Mama told her that, because she loved her father lots. Elysia suspected that Mama was also a Daddy's Girl, because Mama was always happiest when Papa was around. Papa could always make Mama smile, even when Mama was annoyed. He would definitely be able to cure Mama's tears, unlike the soldier in the living room. Papa had always been able to make her stop crying, after all. He definitely would be able to console her Mama.

When she got to her parents' room, though, Papa wasn't there. Elysia frowned and then headed back to the living room. She had thought Papa was just running a little late, that he was definitely going to come home soon. She hadn't thought Papa was going to be Gone Forever. So the young girl didn't think to soothe her mother's tears when she got to the living room. Instead she went outside in the cool night air, to wait for her Papa to come home, so she could tell him to hurry inside and hug Mama because Papa's hugs were always the best in the whole wide world and made her super happy. She was certain Mama would be happy if Papa hugged her right now.

The three year old waited on the steps of her porch for ten minutes, until the military officer came outside. The soldier was young and didn't have any stars on his uniform, so Elysia could tell has a new guy. Papa had been the one who taught her how to tell the military uniforms apart.

The young soldier blinked at her a few moments, when he found her on the steps, and asked her what she was doing.

"I'm waiting for Papa to come home so I can tell him to make Mama feel all better." Elysia had explained, and then offered the soldier a shy smile when pain flashed across his face. Her smile, though just made the young man looked even more pained. Elysia had wondered why; Papa had said that smiling made everyone feel better, and she knew when Mama and Papa smiled at her she was really happy.

"Sorry kid." The soldier had whispered, quietly. "He's gone." Then the soldier left, like she understood what he meant by Gone. Elysia had waited until Mama came outside and made her come inside. Her Mama said that Papa wasn't going to come home tonight, between choked sobs.

That seemed like it had been long ago, back to just a little while after her third birthday. But it really hadn't been all that long ago, and it was almost Wintertime. Her birthday was only a month or two before winter. Mama had said so.

Since Papa was Gone, life was pretty quiet, and she was living with just Mama. Mama didn't take anymore pictures of her for Papa to take to work, because Papa was not going to need them where he was. Because Papa was Gone. Elysia missed her papa and she really wished for him to stop being Gone, but Mama had said Papa didn't want to be Gone, but he couldn't help it. Papa was Gone. Forever. Truth be told, Elysia understood the word 'Forever' about as much as she understood the word 'Gone'.

So Elysia woke up to another morning with Papa being Gone, and she silently made her bed. When she finished she spotted the robot mouse with the flower print that her Papa had given her for her third birthday, just before her Papa went Gone. It was the same mouse that the Toy Doctor, Winry, had fixed for her. Elysia liked Winry, though not nearly as much as she liked Papa. Winry had come over to visit quite a few times since Papa went Gone. Winry seemed to miss Papa almost as much as she and Mama did.

Elysia turned away from the mouse and dressed herself in the outfit Mama had laid out for her. She buttoned the buttons rather sloppily and the dress looked rather rumpled now, but she was rather happy with herself for buttoning up her dress without Mama's help. Papa probably would have fawned over how cute she was, buttoning her dress up all by herself. But he didn't, because Papa was now busy being Gone.

"Morning, Mama!" Elysia greeted her mother, as she entered the kitchen. Her Mama turned around and smiled at her, as she set the table with breakfast. Then Mama chuckled at her messily buttoned dress, and re-buttoned her dress and smoothed it out for her, before letting Elysia go sit down and eat Mama's breakfast. Mama always made the best breakfast in the whole wide world.

The morning passed peacefully, with her Mama smiling brightly at Elysia's pleasant chatter. Then Mama announced that they should go visit Papa.

The first time Mama had said that, Elysia had been very excited, thinking Papa had stopped being Gone and was finally back. She was disappointed to find that visiting Papa meant going to the place where the men had buried her Papa.

Elysia smiled happily at her mom and said what her Mama always said when they went to visit Papa. "Mm! Because Papa gets lonely real easy!"

Her Mama smiled at her cheerfully, and nodded. "That is right, Elysia."

Elysia and her Mama slipped on their shoes and put on their sweaters, because it was getting colder and colder outside, as Wintertime approached. As the two girls locked up their house and left, two of Elysia's friends came running up.

"Hey, Elysia!" The thinner boy exclaimed.

"Come play with me!" the chubby, black hair boy said.

"No, play with me, Elysia!!" the first boy hollered, taking hold of her hand and tugging her along with him.

Papa would have gotten out his gun by now, and would have yelled at them for even thinking about putting their hands on his daughter. Mama was the one to intervene, though. Because Papa was Gone.

"Sorry, boys. Elysia and I are going to go visit Mr. Hughes." And in an instant the two boys' faces turned solemn, and they nodded.

"Tell Mr. Hughes that the two of us say 'Hello', okay Elysia!" the first boy shouted, as he and the other boy ran off.

Elysia nodded, because she didn't have the heart to tell them they weren't really visiting her father. All her and her Mama were going to do was go see a rock with her Papa's name on it, and there really wasn't much use in telling a rock hello. People were always telling her to say hello to her father for them when she went to visit the rock, even the grown ups, so she suspected none of them knew that Papa was Gone.

Her Mama took her hand, as they walked to visit Papa. Elysia could feel her the cool metal of Mama's Wedding Ring as they walked hand in hand. A lot of adults asked her Mama if she was going to take it off. Mama would then say she would probably never take it off, in a very sad voice. Then the adults would pat her Mama on the back and say everything was going to be okay, their eyes filled with pity.

On their way to visit Papa, she and her Mama bought a bouquet of flowers. They got flowers for Papa every time they went to visit him, even though Elysia didn't know what sort of use he may have for them when he was Gone. Plus, Elysia thought Papa would most likely prefer getting pictures of her and Mama or a drawing then a bunch of flowers, because he always smiled brightest when he got pictures. But Mama said flowers would do just as well.

When they got to the field full of rocks, she and Mama went to the same place they always went, because it was where her Papa's rock was. Elysia could still vividly remember the first time she came here and when all the other people came too. Mama had said all those people came to say their Final Goodbyes to Papa. A lot of people came, because a lot of people loved Papa and needed to say Goodbye to him. And a lot of them cried, but no one cried as hard as her Mama.

Elysia was not yet at the age where she could read yet, but she had been to visit Papa's rock so often that she could now recognized the words on Papa's rock. It didn't say much, just his name, 'Maes Hughes' and some numbers that she couldn't quite remember, but her Mama had said that the numbers showed the day Papa was born and the day he died. Mama said that Papa had been alive for thirty years, when Elysia asked her. Thirty years seemed like a very long time compared to her own three years, but the adults kept saying he died so young. Elysia didn't know what they meant by 'died'.

Other then that, there was just an inscription and Mama said that it meant he had died bravely while on duty and that he was a Brigadier General on the stone. Elysia didn't know what a Brigadier General was, but to her Papa was just Papa. The best Papa in the whole wide world, and the stone didn't say anything about that.

She and her Mama placed the flowers by Papa's rock. There were already some flowers there, so Mama said that meant that Mr. Mustang must have visited Papa today too. Elysia knew Mr. Mustang loved Papa a lot, even if she hadn't seen him cry at Papa's Goodbye party like Mr. Armstrong had.

Her Mama talked to the rock about how things were going and how much they missed Papa but they were doing just fine. Even if Elysia didn't quite understand why, she had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that by talking to the rock, her words her Papa might hear her words.

So Elysia told him she missed him lots, especially the way his beard tickled her when he hugged her and buried his face into her hair. Elysia didn't say it out loud, because Mama was there and would probably cry if she heard, but she also silently told him that she wished he would stop being Gone.

Mama and Elysia stayed for a while, by Papa's rock talking. Then Mama gathered her in her arms and they left. The cold was starting to bite harshly on Elysia's nose and cheeks, turning them red and raw. Elysia glanced back at her father's rock then at her Mama. Tears glistened on her Mama's cheeks. Elysia hugged her Mama and cried too.

"I miss Papa." Elysia whispered softly to her Mama. Her mother nodded, but didn't say anything. Her Mama didn't need to. She missed him too. But Papa was never coming back.

--

Author Note: Wow… I actually wrote this in one sitting on the 14th, so I could release it on Fathers Day. It is rather short, but I am quite happy with it. Happier then with my other two. It was also easier to write too, though I think that is probably more because it was more up my alley, because I like writing angst-y things more. The second one I wrote was humor and though my first fanfic was rather angst-y, it was a lemon. So… yeah. Hope you enjoyed it, though it doesn't have much dialogue.

Also I read chapter 84 yesterday. If you ask me, it sucks. It doesn't even have Riza or Mustang. Neither one appears, and it is rather hard to search for Royai without their appearance. And it came out on Royai Day, too. Not to mention what happened to Al… but I won't say anything about what does happen to Al. Just that I am currently freaking out. And that I really do hate Pride. Not as much as Envy, though. A lot of people love Envy, but I'll hold a grudge on him forever. Because he killed Hughes. And I absolutely love Hughes. I wish he was my dad… Every time I see a picture of Hughes, first I laugh… then I burst out into tears. I just can't help it.

And I really will edit this fanfic and my other two, just not until summer school ends. So tell me if you have any problems with this fic, or my other two. I'll try to fix them if I can. )

Edit: Editted on July 8, 2008. I added some stuff to the ending, because I was told it wasn't that good of a closing. My birthday sucked, by the way. TT


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